Page "Telecommunications in Albania" Paragraph 1

Albania's telephone density was the lowest in Europe, at 1. 4 units for every 100 inhabitants.

Tirana accounted for about 13, 000 of the country's 42, 000 direct lines ; Durrës, the main port city, ranked second with 2, 000 lines ; the rest were concentrated in Shkodër, Elbasan, Vlorë, Gjirokastër, and other towns.

At one time, each village had a telephone but during the land redistribution of the early 1990s peasants knocked out service to about 1, 000 villages by removing telephone wire for fencing.

Most of Albania's telephones were obsolete, low-quality East European models, some dating from the 1940s ; workers at a Tirana factory assembled a small number of telephones from Italian parts.